Hand truck



Jul 22, 1924. 1,502,067

F'. STEEL-ER HAND TRUCK Filed June 14, 1921: 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 n F 3 I F2 1b D n O O fi Zd d July 22, 1924. 1,502,067

F. STEBLER HAND TRUCK Filed June 14, 1922 Z Sheets-Sheet 2 mam Q:

Patented July 22, 1924.

' estate? UNETEQ STATES PATENT @FFQQE.

FRED STEIBLER, OF RIVERSIDE, CALIFORNIA. ASSIGNOR T STEIBLER PARKER 00.,OF A RIVERSIDE, CALIFORNIA, A' CORPORATION OF CALIFORNIA.

HAND raucxi Application filed June 14, 1922, Serial no. 568,205.

T 0 all whom it may concern.

Be it known that. I, FRED STEBLER, a citizen of the United States,residing at Riverside, in the county of Riverside and State ofCalifornia, have invented a new and useful Hand Truck, of which thefollowing is a specification.

This invention relates to hand-trucks and is particularly directed tothat type of truck in which gripping means operated by mechanismassociated with the truck are adapted to grip the sides of the articleto be transported. An object of the invention is to generally improveand simplify the construction and operation of a truck of the abovecharacter and to, provide an operating mechanism having a tendency ofmaintaining the gripplng members under load in load gripping position soas to eliminate the necessity of locking means of any character.

Another object is to provide an operating mechanism in which the linesof stress are so distributed as to positively insure against a prematuredropping of the load by release of the gripping means.

Various other objects and advantages will be more fully apparent fromthe following description of the accompanying 3o drawings which form apart of this disclosure, and which illustrate a preferred form ofembodiment of the invention.

Of the drawings:

Figure 1 is a front elevation of my improved truck showing the grippingmembers and the operating mechanism in normal position. 1 4

Fig. 2 is a side elevation.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged vertical section on line 33 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged plan section on line 44 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 5 is an enlarged vertical section on line 5-5 of Fig. 1. 1

With particular reference to Figs. 1 and 2, the truck frame comprisesthe usual siderails 1011, preferably of wood and'terminating at thelrupper ends with handles 12, cross bars 13-14, and transverse plates 15,16 and 17, said bars and plates forming with the side-rails a rigidframe structure.

The upper portions of the side-rails are provided with suitablehand-grips 18 which serve also as legs for supporting this portion ofthe truck in a horizontal position when desired, and attached to thelower portions of said side-rails are brackets 19 carrying a transverseshaft 20 u on the ends of which are journaled groun wheels 21. 1

The lower ends of the side-rails are slotted as at 22 and the rails arefaced with metal strips 23 which form the outer walls of said slots, thelower walls of said slots being formed by the transverse plate 17.

Right-angled gripper members 24 are slidably positioned within therespective slots 22 and have forwardly pro ecting arms 25 provided withinturned points or spurs 26, these gripper members being adapted to betranslated in the slots 22 towards and away from each other to efiect aclamping or releasing of boxes or other articles to be carried by thetruck.

Positioned on opposite sides of the plate 15 and pivot-ally connectedthereto at 27-27, are pairs of depending cam links 28-28, each pair ofsaid links being oppositely curved and extended downwardly on oppositesides of the plate 16 and on the opposite side of the respective grippermembers 24 to which they are pivotally connected at, 29, the lower endsof said links being extended below the members 24 on opposite sides ofthe lower plate 17 to guide the members 24 throughout their movements.

The mechanism which cooperates with the cam links to translate thegripper members, includes a double wall slide bar 30 which slidablyengages the opposite sides of the plates 15 and 16, and which is guidedin its sliding movements by guide pins 31 and 32 on the plates 15 and16, respectively.

A cross-head 33 is positioned between the walls of the slide bar 30intermediate the plates 15 and 16, and is secured to said slide byrivets 34, the op osite ends of the cross-head 33 extending etween thelinks 28 of each pair of said links. Journaled on opposite sides of eachend of the cross head 33 are duplicate pairs of rollers 35,

ice

36, the rollers 35 of each pair engaging the outer edges of therespective links 28, and the rollers 36 of each pair engaging the inneredges of said links, (see particularly Fig. 4).

By this arrangement it will be evident that upon an upward translationof the slide 30, the rollers 35 by their cooperation 40 which is withthe outer edges of the links 28 will cause said links to be drawntogether and the links being pivotally connected with the grippermembers 2=t, operate to move said members towards each other to clampin1y grip the box or other article positioned etween the arms 25. 1

When a box has been clamped by the grippers 24, the weight of the boxexerts a downward force on the outer ends of the grippers and thisproduces an upward thrust of the inner ends of the grippers throughthelinks 28. The links 28, of course, resist this force, and as the thrustin the links will be substantially in line with their pivots 27, thereis no tendency for this force to loosen the spurs 26. For this reason itis unnecessary to provide any locking device for the grippers 24.

The means by which the slide bar 30 is translated upwardly comprises afoot treadle ivoted in the upper end of a bracket 41, with its inner endpivotally connected by means of a link 42 hingedly connected at 43 tothe bar 30, the bracket 41 being secured to the transverse plate 17 andfurther supported by the shaft which extends through said bracket. (SeeFig. 5).

The bar is provided with a pedal step 44 upon which the operator maystep to cause a downward translation of the bar 30 to effect a spreadingof the gripper members and a release of the load.

It will be noted that the body portions of the links are inclined withrespect to the longitudinal axis of the frame while the up er ends ofthe links incline toward this axis and the lower ends incline away fromthis axis.

While the form of mechanism herein disclosed in detail, is admirablyadapted to fulfill all of the objects primarily stated, it is to beunderstood that I do not wish to limit the invention to such specificembodiment, for it is susceptible of embodiment in various other forms,all coming within the scope of the following claims.

I claim 1. In a hand-truck, a frame having relatively spaced side-rails,opposed transversely movable gripper members slidable on the frametowards and from each other and extending beyond the side-rails, opposedcam links extending in a general'direction longitudinal of the framewith their upper ends pivoted on the frame adjacent the respectiveside-rails, said links being each curved downwardly and inwardly withtheir lower ends pivotally connected to the inner ends of the res ectivegripper members, and a longitudina ly movable slide bar having a camengagement with said links and manually naoaoe'r operable to effect anopening or closing of the gripper members.

.2. In a hand-truck, a frame having relatively spaced side-rails,opposed transversely movable gripper members slidable on the frametowards and from each other and extending beyond the side-rails, opposedcam links extending in a general direction longitudinal of the framewith their upper ends pivoted on the frame adjacent the respectiveside-rails, downwardly and inwardly with their lower ends pivotallyconnected with the inner ends of the respective gripper members, alongitudinally movable slide bar between the op posed links, and rollerson the slide bar having a cam action o-n the links to effect an openingor closing of the gripper members.

3. In a hand-truck. a frame having rela tively spaced side-rails,opposed transversely movable gripper members slidable on the frametowards and from each other and extending beyond the side-rails, opposedcam links extending in a general direction longi tudinal of the framewith their upper ends pivoted on the frame adjacent the respectiveside-rails, said links being each curved downwardly and inwardly withtheir lower ends pivotally connected to the inner ends of the respectivegripper members, a longitudinally movable slide bar between the opposedlinks having a cross-head providing opposed arms extending adjacent saidlinks, and rollers carried by said arms and having a cam engagementonthe links during a translation of the slide bar to effect an opening orclosing of the gripper members.

4. In a hand truck, the combination of a frame, a pair of oppositelydisposed grippers guided on the frame to move laterally in and outthereupon, each gripper having a spur for engaging the side of a box, apair of oppositely disposed links pivotally attached to the frame attheir inner ends and pivotally attached at their lower ends respectivelyto the grippers, the upper ends of said links inclining inwardly towardthe longitudinal axis of the frame and the lower ends of the linksinclining outwardly, the body portions of said links being inclined withrespect to the longitudinal axis of the frame, and a cross head guidedto slide longitudinally on the frame and having means for engaging theedges of said links, and an operatin member connected to the crosshead,said cross-head and said links cooperating when the cross-head is moved,to move the grippers in or out.

Signed at Los Angeles, California, this 7th day of June, 1922.

FRED .z'iTlEBLlElEt.

said links being each curved

